May 3, 2004

By Brian Dunne
Stanford Daily (Stanford U.)

(U-WIRE) PALO ALTO, Calif. - The No. 7 Cardinal softball team (40-13, 10-5 Pacific-10 Conference) played national No. 1 University of Arizona (48-3, 13-2) for the fourth and fifth time last weekend. Including Saturday's 4-0 loss in Tucson, the Cardinal came into yesterday afternoon's matchup having already lost four times to the dominant Wildcats, who garnered all 40 first-place votes in the most recent National Softball Association poll and have been ranked No. 1 every single week thus far this season.

Talk about saving your best for last.

In Sunday's fifth and final regular season matchup between the two teams, Stanford defeated Arizona, 2-1, to hand the Wildcats only their third loss of the season and their second in Pac-10 play.

The game was a classic pitchers' duel, as Cardinal ace Dana Sorensen bested Arizona All-American Alicia Hollowell to earn her 25th victory in grand fashion. Despite allowing only two runs, Hollowell allowed a stunning 13 Cardinal hits while taking the loss, dropping her record to 33-2 on the season.

Meanwhile, Sorensen shut down the vaunted Wildcat offense - four Arizona hitters are batting over .400 on the season - by allowing only two hits and a run in a complete-game victory while striking out seven. "Lightning D" held Pac-10 batting leader Autumn Champion hitless in three at-bats and did not allow a run until the final inning, when Wildcat second baseman Samantha Quintero hit a solo home run with two outs to end Sorensen's shutout bid.

The Cardinal lineup was able to hit the previously unhittable Hollowell (who entered the contest with a .107 opponents' batting average) yesterday, thanks to strong offensive performances throughout the batting order. In fact, six Cardinal starters had multiple hits in Sunday's game: left fielder Jackie Rinehart, shortstop Lauren Lappin, third baseman Liz Bendig, second baseman Meghan Sickler, designated player Heather Shook and catcher Jessica Allister. Junior first baseman Leah Nelson had the Cardinal's only RBI on a second-inning single up the middle that scored Lappin from third base. Stanford scored its final run in the fourth inning on a Wildcat fielding error that plated Jessica Allister.

Saturday's game versus the Wildcats in Tucson did not go nearly as well as Sunday's performance, though, as the Cardinal was shut out, 4-0, behind a two-hitter by Hollowell. The Arizona ace struck out 11 Stanford batters, allowing only two hits and walking none en route to her 33rd victory. Sophomore starter Laura Severson took the loss for the Cardinal, allowing 11 Wildcat hits and four runs, all earned.

Coming into the weekend, Cardinal head coach John Rittman cautioned his team not to overlook unranked Arizona State (31-25, 1-11) despite having defeated the Sun Devils twice already this season. This caveat proved to be accurate, as the Sun Devils put a scare into the Cardinal in a Friday night nailbiter in which Stanford eventually came out victorious by the slimmest of margins, 7-6.

Sorensen, who started Friday's game, ran into trouble in the fifth inning, allowing four Sun Devil runs before even getting an out. She did settle down enough to get out of the inning with the Cardinal's lead intact and Laura Severson came in to pitch the sixth and seventh innings to earn her first save of the year. Sophomore outfielder Catalina Morris went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in the Stanford victory.

With Friday's win over Arizona State and Sunday's huge victory over top-ranked Arizona, the Cardinal is on the cusp of something no softball team has done in Stanford history - contending for a Pac-10 Conference title. The Cardinal's 10-5 conference record going into the final two weekends of conference play leaves it three games behind the Wildcats for the top record in conference play. With the Wildcats owning the tie breaker, an outright conference title is unlikely barring an Arizona meltdown over the last six games of the regular season, but even a second- or third-place finish in the Pac-10 would mark the best finish in Cardinal history and would give Stanford an excellent seeding in the NCAA Regional Tournament.

At the beginning of the year, the Cardinal got together and set a collective goal of making it to the College World Series. After winning again and again against elite competition, the Cardinal is looking more and more like it has a legitimate shot at meeting or even exceeding this goal.